27 January 2009

...Shopping malls are losing anchor stores, and large chains are closing stores and even going out of business altogether. Developers who borrowed to finance commercial ventures are in trouble as are the holders of the mortgages, derivatives and other financial junk associated with the loans.

The main source of the economic crisis is the infantile belief of US policymakers that an economy could be based on debt expansion. ...

...Life is already cruel for Americans living on retirement savings. Not only has the stock market bust reduced their wealth by half, but also their remaining assets are producing no income. ... Retirees are living by consuming their capital.

...Interest rates have to be raised in order to encourage saving and to provide incomes to retirees.

...a credible policy of reducing both budget and trade deficits must be announced. In the near term the budget deficit can be reduced by $500 billion by withdrawing from Iraq and Afghanistan and by cutting a bloated defense budget that represents the now unattainable goal of US world hegemony.

...gangsters are using the crisis as an opportunity to steal from taxpayers and to finance their misdeeds and exorbitant salaries with Federal Reserve loans. Their shills among economists and the financial press tell the people that the solution is to fatten up the banks with funds so they will resume lending to an over-indebted public that will then return to the shopping malls.

2 comments:

Seems about right. If the Cincinnati region were to have Colerain Mall, Cincinnati Mills, and Glenway Crossing totally demolished and planted over with trees it would go a long way in balancing us out while also not affecting many people.

The main source of the economic crisis is the infantile belief of US policymakers that an economy could be based on debt expansion. ...

And apparently no-one is listening. Debt expansion caution and fear seems to apply only to the other guy. The second trillion dollar "stimulus" is nothing but a next generation debt expansion. We need some new thinking and problem solivng.